Friday night the Florida Panthers’ wasted another comeback effort, their second in a row this week. After a tough loss Wednesday night in OT, the Panthers fought back against the New York Rangers Friday night, only to lose the game in a shootout.

The 1st period of the game was fast and furious. The Rangers scored 2 quick goals, 1:53 and 2:39 into the period, to go up 2-0. Florida would answer back through Radek Dvorak at the 12:32 mark of the 1st period to get back to 2-1. Florida outshot New York 15-10 through the 1st period.

Florida pulled even on the power play in the 2nd period thanks to Jay Bouwmeester to tie the game 2-2, setting up a pivotal 3rd period to determine the game. New York took the 3-2 lead 7:04 into the 3rd period, but David Booth would score his 12th goal of the season for Florida with a minute and a half left in the period to force overtime.

The OT period was dominated by New York who outshot the Panthers 9-2, but the game would require a shootout to determine the winner. Rostislav Olesz would score first in the shootout, but it was downhill from there for Florida. The Rangers would convert their next two attempts while Florida’s next two shots resulted in a save and a miss.

Last night’s loss was really a case of same old, same old for the Panthers. They struggled on the power play, despite the one goal, going 1-6. The Panthers were outshot on the game and couldn’t finish when it counted. The team continues to struggle in its efforts to turn their season around and unless they can capitalize on good effort they are going to have a long season and may be in for change soon.